k...time for an update. let's back-track:
2 new friends - Saturday, March 19 2005went to the gym again today in an effort to stay productive while bored, and found 2 new friends waiting for me...when i got home. i'll call them "p.p." (for plum & pear). parents decided to go n buy 2 fruit trees while i was gone; an italian plum tree & an asian pear tree. i guess it's fitting, since practically all the houses we've lived in before have had at least some sort of fruit growing in the yard. it'll be a few years before we get any fruit from these guys though, but it's a start.
i think it's kinda ironic that the issue of planting/growing trees that bear fruit decided to find it's way into my day today, seeing as how tonight i went to something that could be called a "ministry showcase" (yeah i dunno how else to put it...) basically it was just an event where ppl from 4 different organizations here in the Lower Mainland talked about the different opportunities to serve & minister to the inner city that they offer for people to take part in. the organizations were:
i) Lifeline
ii)
Vancouver Focusiii)
Kidstreet/
Jamzoneiv)
Urban Promisethe recurring theme from all 4 presentations was the focus on building relationships w/ the people, and that it was only through investing time & energy in these relationships (comparable to watering/pruning trees i guess) that would ultimately enable them to bear fruit. it was a great chance for me to see areas that i can possibly explore and serve in, especially as a recent university graduate. talked to a few ppl afterwards n made some contacts; guess i'm gonna have to take some time to prayerfully consider what's next...
i'd anticipated an pretty quiet night, so i'd brought along the new book i'd just started yesterday:
Intimate Death - How the Dying teach us how to Livespent some time w/ it @ buck's afterwards; an intense, pretty emotional (yeah that's right, emotional but not about food) read, but surprisingly not as depressing as one might think after hearing the title. got through the foreward & the 1st chapter, then a few of the girls started showing up to load up on caffeine before heading down to
Atlantis for Mr. Gee's un-birthday. then gradually, Mr. Gee n a few of the guys showed up so we just started talking n reading was done for the night...
*sidenote*: it was really rainy/windy at night n i think it scared bobo (such a wuss). neway, i heard her pacing around in the hallway late last night trying to seek refuge, so i took pity on her & let her sleep w/ me for the night. not too big of a problem since she fits nicely into a lil corner of the bed, but dude...does that lil thing ever snore! kept waking me up...yeesh O_o
substance abuse - Sunday, March 20 2005uy...anyone else ever thought Tylenol Cold & Sinus was a
non-drowsy medication? yeah me too. i popped one before driving (the bottle says driving afterwards isn't recommended) to church this morning. came home in the afternoon n felt like crap; parents came home n asked me why i
looked like crap; told 'em it was prbbly cuz i didn't have much of a breakfast that morning. an indirect way of suggesting they fix up a nice big lunch! =P so pops instantly fries up some noodles w/ shreds of leftover bbq pork & duck. mmmm...that man's a genius, a real role-model. but yeah, somehow it comes up that i took the yellow pill (the Tylenol) that morning, n
then mom tells me that's why i'm feeling sleepy. so i go n read the back of the bottle to double-check...n yup. ok, so it's not cuz this morning's sermon was boring (it was actlly pretty interesting, had a guest speaker), i was "under the influence". well that's a relief.
so after lunch i catch a lil NCAA basketball (to help digest u know), then take a "proper" nap...that lasted from 1400-1830. and i wonder where my time goes...o yeah, and after starting last sunday night; i've actually finished 2 full songs. by finished, i mean like everything's pretty much final - melody, lyrics, variations, all done. cool...one of 'ems about my dog, & the other one mentions stuffing my face with food. don't they sound like chart toppers already?
the Meet Market - Monday, March 21 2005went to a career fair @ BCIT today...pretty disappointing though. virtually none of the stuff offered really interested me much at all. ah well, picked up some helpful job info/literature though, bumped into a few old faces & exchanged a few words, n then had lunch w/ a friend afterwards. mmmm...i missed those BCIT chicken salad baguettes...
i was thinkin; in some ways, has the "dating game" now become comparable to looking for a job in today's world? do we go to "career fairs" & hand out "resumes"? what a messy business this is - all the 'schmoozing"', 'networking', 'interviewing/macking'...yeesh. i mean, it's one thing to make a good first impression, but these days that's
all it's about. guess that's partly why i came up w/ the idea for this first song i wrote about a week ago. here's an excerpt:
...I feel like this is my last chance,
to finally have a simplified romance...
The kind where I just take your hand,
no need for pretty words or fancy pants...
We wouldn’t have to fly to France,
for a simplified romance...sound corny? perhaps...but yeh i guess you have to hear it w/ the melody. i know i know;
simplified romance? yeah right. wouldn't that be great though? nyeh, maybe some day...
a Good son - Tuesday, March 22 2005morning: set aside some job postings of interest (one for Bell Canada, another for Active Community Solutions)
- went to drop off some sticky rice that mom made for grandma, sat up there for a while n chilled w/ her for a bit, grandpa was out for dim sum w/ his "homies" (again)
afternoon: take the day off to go shopping w/ mom on her spring break
- help her look around for a pair of jeans, they need a new mattress, house stuff, etc...
evening: take out the trash, get ready to help pops move everything away from the 10 windows we're getting replaced in a few days, etc...
man, parents are gettin' some good use out of my free time these days...who knows, maybe it
is time to finally switch out of "safari-mode" uy...O_o
:the HK Journals: cont'd...DAY XI: Gongbei to Macau - Tuesday, February 150930: wake, look out the window @ the border crossing & see lots of ppl walking back n forth already
- lots of ppl live in China & work/gamble in Macau b/c stuff it’s cheaper to live in China
1000: have breakfast along the “strip” of Gongbei Port
- biggest trip was seeing some black dude working in the restaurant as a cook
- I’m glad I got the chance to come out here this month. I’d already taken January as a breather n I’d possibly just be rotting away back home, so this was good timing
1230: walk over to Gongbei Port (underground plaza where we had dinner last night), walked around inside/shopping
- crazy, u can buy everything here: electronics, gadgets, toys, clothes, shoes, musical instruments…
- you tend to get lost though, it’s a friggin labyrinth
1815: exit Gongbei & cross border into Macau
1845: take 10B bus to Aunt 3’s house (buses in Macau have background music?!)
- drop off bags @ Aunt 3’s house
- dinner, more walking, met another cousin (Aunt 3’s youngest son)
- walk through 3 Casino’s, played some slots, won a few bucks. Casino’s really aren’t my thing so I got pretty bored, but I stayed to keep my aunts company. Finally left n had a late night snack.
0230: home, shower sleep
End of Day XI
(Full Album)DAY XII: Day in Macau, then Back to HK Island - Wednesday, February 16
0930: Wake, eat @ home, pack stuff up cuz we’re leaving back to China tonight, head out @ visit this old church in Macau
- apparently this entire building got bombed during some war and the entire structure was destroyed, except for the front façade. So it’s a tourist attraction now, w/ the basement & a few pillars still semi-together, but the front wall is the only original part still standing. it's a bit sad when i think about it, how in some ways our world today has religion that's kinda like the ruins of this church; a mere facade, appearing complete and 'together' from those who look on from the front, but hollow and empty within.
- more shops/plazas, eat lunch @ Macau McDonald’s
- visit Macau Tower (338m tall)
1615: cross border & take ferry back over to HK.
2330: Pretty drained from the past few days, so I just stuck around UT’s apartment, relaxed w/ some music, a pear & a walk around the mountains n called it a night
End of Day XII
(Full Album)DAY XIII: Acrobats @ Tai Koo, Relocation, & Junky’s Bar - Thursday, February 171145: woke up nice n late, had some dim sum in Sau Kei Wan w/ UT & Aunt Winnie, then went to Tai Koo Place (mall) to walk around w/ UT
- lucky for me, it just so happened that there was a free show inside TK Place that day; the Guangzhou National Acrobatic Troupe of China was doing a stint there, performing a few shows daily for a few weeks in February as a celebration of Chinese New Year
- show took place in an atrium right near the centre of the mall
- UT had to go to work, so I just kept walking around the mall myself, bought a few things here n there, then i got a call from Junky (Epaphras;
explanation), an old buddy of mine. It’s the first time we’ve spoken since I got to HK n he’s glad I’m here, planning to transfer my habitat Westwards on HK Island from UT’s place in Sau Kei Wan (East end of HK Island) to his family’s place in North Point (Central HK Island)
- Their family lives on the 37th floor of some building, but they have a unit on the 5th floor that his dad uses as a home office, so they said I could crash there while I was in HK. Cool…
1630: met up w/ Junky @ North Point MTR, go up to Kit’s place again which is nearby & jam for a bit
- Junky’s g/f Angel meets us up there, then the 3 of us leave to go meet Junky’s parents (Uncle Chung & Auntie Helen), n a few others at some hotpot place for dinner. Auntie Helen & my mom were real good friends from back in the day, so it's cool b/c her n Uncle Chung are super generous and treat me almost like a son, just how my parents treated Junky like their own too when he was over in Canada a few years back
*Dinner Highlight: for those that remember the ridiculous strand of hair that I so “painstakingly” cherished for a few years in high school (i'll get around to putting up a pic of that, eventually...), I wish I could’ve taken a picture of this dude at the hotpot place; he had to be like 40-something, n he was still sportin’ the “Charlie” (re: Street Fighter Alpha) hairstyle. It was priceless.
- after dinner, dropped off my bags at my new location, then headed out to Wan Chai so Junky could finally show me his new bar:
Senses- he’s been doing some modeling/tv commercials since he returned to HK after literally getting tossed out of school in Canada, n he’d decided to open a bar w/ some of the cash he made
- it’s been open for nearly 6 months now; renovated and opened for business in about 1 month. Did all the layout design & decorating himself, had to oversee everything too, poor guy was in there basically 18hrs a day. He’s got one partner (Victor, the guy who joined us for dinner), but he’s the main guy behind it all.
- i'm impressed, liquor license is prbbly the hardest part about the whole process though. operation took over 100K CDN to start, but money still isn't everything; you have to have connections in HK for this sort of business, but his dad's a pretty influential stock broker, a rags-to-riches type of story i guess you could say, so that helped too
- Now we all know Raph is virtually alcohol-free these years...but when on
holiday, and when it’s on the house…=P
- after a few drinks, Junky, Angel & I headed to Lan Kwai Fong, the real “touristy” bar area I guess in HK; basically a lotta white folks, loud bars/pubs
- walked around, had a hot dog, talked just for a bit about business, etc…watched some drunk white dude get kicked out onto the street…
0230: home, sleep.
End of Day XIII
(Full Album)
